My Driving Experiment Setup
So last Tuesday, I got really stuck thinking after sitting through this awful traffic jam. Man, horns blasting, brakes screeching, just a total mess. It hit me: does punching the gas and slamming brakes really get you there faster? Or does just chilling out and rolling smooth actually work better? Gotta know.
Grabbed my dusty notebook and the old pen living in the glove box. Figured the best way was just to drive my regular stuff for a few weeks, but switch up how I drove. Same old routes to work, grocery store, dropping the kid off. Total three weeks: one week driving like my taxi uncle Vinny (all gas, no brake mercy), one week driving like a nervous student driver trying too hard to be smooth, and one week just doing whatever felt normal.
The Nitty-Gritty Tracking Stuff:
- Method: Fill the tank FULL every Sunday night. Tracked miles driven until the gas light popped on. Used my phone trip meter thing to check each trip time.
- The Aggressive Way: Smash that gas pedal whenever possible, brake hard at the last second, weave when there was space (not being reckless, just… eager). Felt kind of tense.
- The Smooth Way: Super gentle on the pedal, coasting to red lights super early, leaving a huge gap ahead. Honestly felt a bit slow sometimes, kinda awkward.
- The Normal Way: Basically just driving how I usually drive without thinking much about it – a little impatient sometimes, mostly steady.
What Actually Went Down
Okay, driving aggressive felt faster in the moment, no lie. Got to that next red light quicker than others sometimes. But then, that tm red light! Always seemed to hit it dead on when trying to race. Braking hard felt like wasting all that effort. And man, you could literally watch the fuel gauge dropping fast. Super frustrating.
Driving smooth? Felt boring as heck at first. Like watching paint dry. People behind me clearly got annoyed, especially in the city. BUT, something weird started happening. I started hitting more green lights without trying. Coasted right through intersections sometimes as the light changed. Seemed almost magical.
The Cold, Hard Numbers After 3 Weeks:
- Gas Money Talk: Big shocker! The aggressive week sucked down fuel like crazy. Smooth driving saved me like $50 bucks over three weeks compared to driving like a maniac. Normal driving was in the middle, closer to smooth on cost though.
- Time is Money? Not Really: Here’s the kicker. My average trip time? Driving aggressive only saved me about 2 minutes on my 30-minute work commute compared to driving smooth. Sometimes the aggressive way even took LONGER because I got stuck at more lights I raced to. Grocery runs? Barely a minute saved, if any.
- Short Trips are the Worst: Aggressive driving on those little 5-minute hops was a gas mileage disaster. Smooth driving crushed it for efficiency on these.
So What’s the Real Deal?
Look, driving aggressive feels faster. Your brain tells you you’re winning. But the numbers don’t lie, man. You burn way more fuel, put more wear on the brakes, stress yourself out, and annoy everyone else on the road. And for what? A couple minutes? Maybe?
Driving smooth feels slow as molasses sometimes, especially when you’re stuck behind some Sunday driver. But it saves you serious cash at the pump, gives the brakes a break, and honestly? It just feels easier. Less exhausting. That weird timing thing with the lights – predicting the flow instead of fighting it – actually kinda works.
Told my wife about saving fifty bucks just by easing off the pedal sooner. She laughed and said I shoulda figured it out years ago. Guess the old way wasn’t the smarter way after all. Smooth might feel slow, but it gets you there just about as quick without costing your wallet or your peace of mind.
